Is a confession valid if the confessor was deceived?

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fakename

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I deceived my confessor to some extent -was that wrong (I’m pretty sure it is)?

Now, mind you lying to your confessor is wrong but I only deceived him by saying what was true, but not what was true to him. Hence no lie, more like mental reservation.

But after confession I realized that mental reservation is not something to be used w/everyone especially not people to whom you owe a plain recounting of the truth. So was my using mental reservation to cover up a circumstance of a sin wrong? And was the confession valid?
 
Depends. If you say you committed some really bad impure acts(it has a name and you can’t bring yourself to say it) and you just say impure acts, I suppose it’s fine. However, there are plenty of factors which can affect it. i’m no expert, however, if you feel something was wrong, it probably was.
 
Ouch! That may well have invalidated the entire confession. Of course, you were ashamed of your sin, or you would have easily made the entire disclosure. Believe it or not, this will not be the first time your priest has dealt with this - it is simple human nature. Contact him and schedule another confession. Personally, I would abstain from receiving the Communion until this was done.
 
Why don’t you bring this up with your confessor again? Not only can he give you a better answer than we can, you can also discuss it with him in detail which you cannot with us lest you break the seal.
 
ConstantineTG said:
Why don’t you bring this up with your confessor again? Not only can he give you a better answer than we can, you can also discuss it with him in detail which you cannot with us lest you break the seal.
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The seal applies to the penitent?
 
I don’t think there is enough information here to give a certain opinion. I have wondered about some mental reservations over the years. A priest may out of curiosity ask something unrelated to the confession eg"I notice from your accent that you are not from here." Now if you are the only Canadian in town could you reply “American” meaning North American? I have never done it but but wondered about questions my accent causes.
 
Well essentially, to simplify, the question is can you use mental reservations when confessing a sin? And two, if you do does this invalidate the confession?
 
Two things: priests are pretty good at figuring out what people at getting at even though many (most? all?) penitents obfuscate, circumlocute, &c. He probably knew what you were talking about.

Second, I doubt you invalidated your confession unless you went in with the intention of deceiving him.
 
fakename said:
I deceived my confessor to some extent -was that wrong (I’m pretty sure it is)?

Now, mind you lying to your confessor is wrong but I only deceived him by saying what was true, but not what was true to him. Hence no lie, more like mental reservation.

But after confession I realized that mental reservation is not something to be used w/everyone especially not people to whom you owe a plain recounting of the truth. So was my using mental reservation to cover up a circumstance of a sin wrong? And was the confession valid?
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The mental reservation technique only applies when you are talking to a person who has no right to know the truth, and is normally used to protect people from harm.
The priest has the right to know the truth so in fact your deceit in my opinion meant your Confession was not sincere and would not be valid. You can fool the priest but you can’t fool God.
 
fakename said:
Well essentially, to simplify, the question is can you use mental reservations when confessing a sin? And two, if you do does this invalidate the confession?
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Since God is unreservedly applying His love to your life, and to the Sacraments, you also must unreservedly confess your faults and failings to Him. During confession, you see the priest, but you should be thinking “Jesus”, as that is whose authority by which the priest absolves you of your sin. God does not hold back, and neither should we.

Ask your priest.
 
Now I forget, do you have to re-tell your sins if the confession was not valid?
 
po18guy said:
Yes, as you still bear them after an invalid confession.
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As a hypothetical follow up to this, what if you confessed deceiving the priest in your following Confession. After saying that you were deceptive to the priest in your previous Confession (or after including that in your list of sins being confessed), the priest gives you Absolution with no follow-up questions. You did not re-confess your sins from that deceptive Confession, but just that you were deceptive. Would you have to do anything additional or would you be absolved of your sins from this Confession and the ones you confessed in the deceptive one?

I ask because this somewhat happened to me. I felt that I may have been deceptive in past Confessions and I confessed it pretty much like that expressing some doubt, but with a chance that I really did do it. The priest did not ask any follow-up, nor ask me to re-confess sins from past Conefssions, and gave me Absolution. I have also had a similar situation where I confessed that I had confessed sins which I later did stop, but at the time of Confession I knew I had no real intention of stopping. Again, no follow-up, no request to re-confess from my past Confessions, and I received Absolution.
 
newbie9 said:
As a hypothetical follow up to this, what if you confessed deceiving the priest in your following Confession. After saying that you were deceptive to the priest in your previous Confession (or after including that in your list of sins being confessed), the priest gives you Absolution with no follow-up questions. You did not re-confess your sins from that deceptive Confession, but just that you were deceptive. Would you have to do anything additional or would you be absolved of your sins from this Confession and the ones you confessed in the deceptive one?
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If you confessed each sin that you were aware of, by type and number, then they are likely forgiven. If you “demoted” your sin from mortal to venial, this is quite another issue. Go back to the Priest and discuss this, as we are not allowed to “softpedal” our sins to the priest - especislly since God knows all. Please read Acts 5:1-11 to see the story of someone else who held back from the Lord. The difference is that you are bothered by this, and they were not.
newbie9 said:
I ask because this somewhat happened to me. I felt that I may have been deceptive in past Confessions and I confessed it pretty much like that expressing some doubt, but with a chance that I really did do it. The priest did not ask any follow-up, nor ask me to re-confess sins from past Conefssions, and gave me Absolution. I have also had a similar situation where I confessed that I had confessed sins which I later did stop, but at the time of Confession I knew I had no real intention of stopping. Again, no follow-up, no request to re-confess from my past Confessions, and I received Absolution.
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The issue here is your lack of contrition. Part of the Act of Contrition is 'I firmly intend, with your help, to do penance, to sin no more…" If you had no firm intention of stopping the sin (at the time you confessed it), then this may very well have invalidated your entire confession.

Bottom line: Tell your priest what you have told us.
 
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